Life is full of surprises. Twists and turns keep things interesting. But to break your back, move from Malibu to the Mountains, and start a new business all in one year??? Yep, that’s what Paul Lundgren from Lundgren Construction told me happened to him in this very interesting episode.
And to top it all off, he shared how he includes his wife and 9 children in his family business.
Needless to say, this is a very educational and inspiring episode. Listen and learn today.
Inside you’ll find out:
- Why Paul says you have to keep learning or you’ll die.
- How to keep up with all the changes taking place or else fall behind.
- How to grow your business in a new city where no one has ever heard of you before.
- How to get the tools you need even if you are just starting out.
- Why Paul puts his brand on everything, including his kid’s shirts.
- …. and so much more!
As I went through this episode to get it ready to publish, I realized that it is a bit shorter than most Featured Guest episodes we do every Wednesday. But I also felt like Paul shared so much knowledge that it felt like an entire hour long episode. I know you’ll get a lot of gold from this one. Get it now.
Check Out the Entire Post and Notes Here:
Paul Lundgren grew up in Southern California, 20 minutes east of Malibu. Paul’s father was a painting contractor, and Paul worked for him ever since he could remember. As a child, Paul spent a bulk of his free time on his father’s job sites, and when he was old enough, he worked for his father. In his life, Paul has never worked for anyone else besides his father and himself. When Paul attended college, he continued to work for his dad while pursuing a degree in graphic design. Working with his father soon evolved into a partnership, and then after a few years he took over the entire business.
Eventually, Paul wanted more from his work, and he describes his work at the time as simply a task of “keeping up with the joneses.” Additionally, Paul said he could do any painting job in his sleep, and therefore wanted to branch out into other areas of contracting. So, Paul and his wife made the decision to pack up and move their family to Colorado. They had always dreamed of living there, and they both idealized the mountains and culture of Colorado for their growing family.
The market in Southern California is a rat race, according to Paul, and it’s a different culture there, and in Paul’s opinion it is not the best place to raise a large family such as his. However, a month before he and his family officially relocated, Paul fell and broke his back. He couldn’t work for 6 months in order to repair his back.
Networking and building new connections in the area was obviously difficult in his condition, but he did it anyways. In order to build his brand in a completely new market, Paul talked to every realtor, builder, decorator and designer that he could meet. In order to grow his business out in Colorado, Paul also made a note of diversifying the work that he can do.
“If someone asked me if I could do something, I would say ‘yeah’,” Paul says, admitting that he would use youtube to figure out what he would need to do for any new job that he may not have experience doing.
Although his background is in painting, it’s only a small fraction of what he’s doing now in Colorado. Because Paul has answered “Yes” to so many offers, his business has grown in paramount ways.
Additionally, most of his clientele are repeat clients because one of Paul’s priorities is making his clients feel like friends. As someone with a history of graphic design, marketing is a strong suit for Paul.
Branding is very important to Paul, and he thinks of every detail, even down to using lettering on his trucks instead of magnets, which he thinks say “you’re temporary” to people. Paul advises contractors to come up with a logo and make it feel permanent, because that says to clients that you’re going to stick around. However, when it comes to branding and permanence, Paul says that it’s also okay for your brand to evolve with you.
After living and working in Colorado for about thirteen years, Paul has never had employees. He simply claims that “it’s hard to find people who actually love the craft.” But, Paul is hoping to change this with his new venture, TrimCorp. With the help of a partner, Paul is spearheading TrimCorp, a carpentry company with the goal of bringing together contractors for high-end jobs they may not be able to land alone.
When it comes to technology and his business, Paul uses Quickbooks the most.
He hasn’t used social media platforms for his business as much as other contractors, but he has found recently that Instagram is an incredible tool, not only for marketing, but for inspiration. Paul likes Instagram because it connects him with other contractors, and allows him to see what they’re doing.
In this way, Instagram is much more of a motivational tool for him than anything else. To know that other craftsmen are out there and passionate about their work just as he is comforts Paul, and pushes him to continue building his brand.
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